I think I am an anarchist. Being a little politically naive, I am unable to substantiate that claim. However, of all the political theories and frameworks and examples I am naive about, I think this one resonates the most with me.

But hang on a sec! Isn’t anarchy all about smashing shop windows, and dressing all in black, and vandalism, and violence and a lawless, feckless society?

Thats what I thought too. But this is simply not the case. There is a new book being published soon by Carne Ross on this very topic. Titled: There we are human again, it is part memoir part explanation.

What drew my attention to all this was the most interesting pre-publish promotion of this book on the substack page of Perspectiva: Why Are We Publishing a Book on Anarchism?

Anarchism is not one body of thought or an explicit agenda, but more like a sensibility and outlook that arises from a diverse range of sources and experiences. Leo Tolstoy was a (Christian) anarchist, Emma Goldman was a (feminist) anarchist, Mahatma Gandhi was a (anti-imperial/Hindu) anarchist, Ursula K. Le Guin was a (Taoist) anarchist, David Graeber was an (anthropologist) anarchist, and Noam Chomsky is a (linguist) anarchist. What these people have in common is a belief that the world does not have to be the way it is, and that it can and should be remade.

[…]

It’s not about wilful destruction, nor even starting from scratch. It’s about noticing how institutional power constrains the human spirit and our collective capacity to live well, and finding countervailing forms of power through solidarity. The Czech dissident Vaclav Havel was not an anarchist, but his famous samizdat essay – The Power of the Powerlesss – is anarchism-adjacent, and there he writes: “A better system will not automatically ensure a better life. In fact, the opposite is true: only by creating a better life can a better system be developed”.

Even if the very word Anarchism triggers you, I recommend taking a few minutes to read the post through. It is very well composed and informative.

PS: Here is a video documenting the authors journey into Anarchism…filmed 6 years ago, it is a little historically dated, but even so I found myself watching the whole thing through.

I have pre-ordered the book and look forward to becoming (albeit ever so slightly) less politically naive.